I'm back in my usual place, though maybe not entirely in my usual space. But I'm still playing catch-up on the "heritate" postings.
For April 17, Edward Sebesta has another quote from Confederate Veteran magazine (January 1907) emphasizing the racial attitudes that have always been bound up with the celebration of Confederate "heritage." In this case:
No more negroes should be admitted to the army, and the amendment to the Constitution giving negroes the ballot should be repealed. This ballot feature is the luring one in social as well as political strife. In compelling the negro to keep his place the highest instincts of life should be exercised to treat him kindly and justly in every way. [emphasis in red is Sebesta's]
Again, Sebesta is trying to clarify the real agenda that has always been a part of the Confederate "heritage" scam. These days, as Southern Republicans increasingly embrace the symbols and rhetoric of Confederate "heritage", this becomes increasingly important. Because even hardcore racist groups often reject descriptions like "racist," while they proceed to expound on the inherent inferiority and general lack of desirable qualities of whatever race is their favorite target of the moment.
The Confederate "heritage" scam is not about honoring the war dead of the nineteenth century or about an honest remembering of the past. It's about using the symbolism of the Confederacy and the mythology of the Lost Cause to promote racial hatred and authoritarian politics in the present day.
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